The art field with respect to providing handling devices for food products has, in the recent past, become more intense in that it has been found desirable to provide means for handling food product without having direct contact between the user and the food product to be consumed. This is especially prevalent with respect to prepared food products which are handled by the ultimate consumer, or by personnel intermediate between the food preparation location, and the ultimate consumer.
It is well known with respect to liquids, that a wide variety of devices are available for containing a liquid to be consumed, and for permitting the user to consume the liquid directly from the container without any intermediate handling of the liquid. Various other devices have been provided by the art field for handling solid food products, and this is especially true with respect to food products sold in bulk form from containers. For example, various types of bins have been created thereby to provide the consumer with a means to grasp food product from a container in which a bulk source of the food product is available, and to insert the same into an individualized container without at the same time handling the food product. The purpose of such containers is to ensure sterility and integrity of the food product as between the various consumers having access to the container.
However, with respect to prepared food products, and especially some food products such as pizza pies, and other types of pies and cakes, other than the standard typical manner of handling such food products such as a plate and fork, very few handling devices have been developed. As to the food handling devices which have been developed to date, it has been difficult to provide such a device which may be sold with or accompany the package in which the food product slice to be used by the ultimate consumer. Such a device would avoid any handling of the food product by intermediate personnal prior to delivery to the consumer. Exemplary of this situation is the pizza pie industry wherein the explosion of pizza restaurants and home delivery pizza establishments has created a significant economic market in such food products. Typically, pizza pies intended for home delivery are prepared by the retail location, and boxed by the employees of the retail location for delivery to the consumer. Ultimately, such product is delivered to the consuemr in a box type container and the consumer must then handle the food product directly in order to consume the same.
The present invention also permits use in actual restaurant facilities and may be employed for the purpose of consuming any prepared food product when vended by the slice to avoid the necessity for utilizing cumbersome knife and fork arrangements for eating such food product. The food handling device of the present invention may be provided to the restaurant patron in a disposable format so that after use, it may be simply discarded thereby to provide not only an efficient manner for eating sliced food products, but also a sanitary method of doing so.
The present invention is intended to provide an improved food handling device which may be packaged with the food product, and tendered to the consumer for use by the consumer in handling individual slices of the food product while avoiding direct contact with the food product per se.